For Rent: Love
by coffeeandfanfiction
Summary: Roronoa Zoro is a wealthy businessman who built his company from scratch and Sanji is one of the best chefs in the world working in an extremely popular restaurant. One day a miraculous deal comes up and Sanji is left with a situation he never thought he would be in.
1. Chapter 1 - The Beginning

A five star restaurant in the busiest area of Tokyo, full of high end paying customers, celebrities, artists, models and businessmen. The restaurant is known for their wide range of dishes, quality ingredients and amazingly fast service. People would travel from all over the country just to try out new flavours. The uniqueness about this five star restaurant was that you aren't able to order because a dish was made specifically for that customer, it would be created just for that person.

A blond haired man came rushing into the restaurant with his coat half worn, hair a mess, cigarette dangling from his mouth. In an instant he disappeared from sight and the air was filled with chattering of the upper class, gossiping about the man who just burst into the restaurant looking like a mess. It was unacceptable for anyone to walk into this restaurant looking like that.

"You're late, Sanji! Did you walk through the main entrance looking like a mess?!" The head Chef shouted standing in front of the stove, he was cooking at such a fast pace that it was hard to see his hands. Sanji looked at the time and it was five past twelve in the afternoon, usually he would arrive early to work by an hour or two just to experiment with new dishes.

"It's just five minutes, stop making a huge deal out of nothing, Zeff... and yes I had to otherwise the backdoor takes ten minutes." Sanji snapped, he took his mobile phone out of his pocket and felt the anger rise inside of him. It was broken, he had to get a new one after work. He was tired, he had no control over anything anymore, everything in his life was turning for the worst. There wasn't anyone more unlucky than him.

"Go change into your uniform and hurry up!" Zeff ordered. Sanji sighed and power walked to the locker room, changed into his chef uniform and walked back to the kitchen. He washed his hands and went straight into cooking.

"What do you think you're doing, Sanji?" Zeff roared, Sanji zoned out as soon as he got into cooking that he didn't hear his boss walk towards him. His voice startled him and he took a deep breathe trying to calm himself down.

"I'm cooking, are you blind?" Sanji shouted back, he was pissed off that Zeff didn't break his annoying habit of creeping up behind him and yelling as loud as he can.

"The waiter called in sick so you need to serve these dishes. Didn't you get my message?" He scolded.

"Some idiot walked straight into me and broke my damn phone" Sanji huffed.

"You better get a new one today, as soon as you leave work. Now go and serve these dishes!" Zeff ordered but his voice was threatening. If he didn't get a new phone by the end of the day Zeff was going to kill him.

"Fine.. fine.. I'm gone" He ran back to the locker room and got dressed into his other uniform which was a navy blue suit, white shirt and no tie, he hated ties. He ran out of the locker room and towards the dining hall to start collecting orders. The restaurant wasn't as full as he thought, he took a deep breath before he started. He ran from table to table, back and forth from the dining hall to the kitchen. Collecting orders, filling up the glasses, preparing salads and serving dishes.

 _(Five hours after working non-stop...)_

He felt exhausted, a feeling he didn't feel often. It was like his body gave up on him, he never took a break for ten years straight. Maybe it was time to take a holiday he thought while pouring alcohol for a man dressed in a clean cut black suit.

"Hey! Hey! Watch it!" The green haired man started yelling, he looked around and down at his hands, he poured too much alcohol and it went all over the man's outfit.

"I'm extremely sorry" Sanji apologised, quickly grabbing a napkin from the table and started wiping his suit down. He dissociated for a second how could this have happened, it was a first.

"I have an important meeting right now and look what you did to my suit, you idiot!" He insulted, pushing his hands away from his clothes. Sanji looked at his suit it looked quite expensive, he was going to apologise again but after he called him an idiot he didn't care anymore.

"I said I'm sorry, are you that stupid that you don't understand?" Sanji yelled, something about this particular guy was pissing him off extremely.

"You want to fight?!" The man raised his voice, everyone in the restaurant was watching curiously. He grabbed onto Sanji's collar and glared, Sanji glared back and that was when he noticed he had beautiful brown eyes. It was dark, dull and full of pain, the light from his eyes had vanished, just something about his eyes sent a shiver down his spine.

"Your eyes-" Sanji muttered, he wasn't aware that he had spoken out loud. The green haired man heard his muttering and his frustration grew. He pushed Sanji away and reached into his pocket to take his wallet out. Sanji was fixated on his eyes, he was left speechless he saw something in his eyes, it was hard to explain but suddenly he felt connected to the stranger. He calmed down after visioning the amount of yelling he was going to get from Zeff and decided to apologise to the man.

"I'm extremely sorry, sir! Please... I would like to make it up to you." Sanji apologised bowing his head down.

"Fine..." The man sighed loudly and seated himself back down. Sanji picked his head up and just stared at the man, that was extremely quick he thought.

The chattering continued to fill the air, sanji tidied up and walked over to each table to apologise personally. He walked into the kitchen with both hands full of empty plates stacked onto each other. He walked over to the sink and dumped the plates there, he rolled his sleeves and started washing the dishes, pots, pans, plates, cutlery and everything, the kitchen was a mess.

"What happened out there?" Zeff asked, running around the kitchen. Sanji paused and remembered his eyes, took out a cigarette and lit it.

"... Nothing. Just get the orders ready, I'm going to take a five minute break." He sat down and puffed out the smoke. Zeff knew something had happened, he wasn't the curious type and just decided to ignore it. Sanji wasn't someone who would speak about his problems, he would do everything to help others even if that meant putting his life on the line. He wanted to make people happy even though he was unhappy himself, he just smiled regardless of the situation and that was what he liked about Sanji which is why he dealt with his insults for years.

"I'm going to cook for table one" Sanji smiled.

"Fine, do whatever you want. Usopp will be here any min-" Zeff stopped as Usopp walked through the backdoor.

"Hey guys, glad I made it on time." Usopp smiled, running straight to the locker room.

"Hurry up, there's customers waiting!" Sanji shouted behind him.

"I know! I know!" Usopp shouted back.

Sanji washed his hand, prepared the ingredients and got down to cooking. He was going to try his limited dish, he only made this dish for the people whom he was close to but that man gave off an aura that this was his dish.

"Oi Sanji, don't forget that table one also has another customer make her something too." Zeff reminded.

"Okay, okay."Sanji felt his heart sink a little and he paused for a second wondering why. It was weird. He finished cooking and walked over to table one, his guest already arrived, she was beautiful, long black hair, green eyes and pale skin.

"Sorry for the wait, for the lady we made a special fish dish... sweet and spicy with a zest of citrus and a side order of freshly picked salad leaves sprinkled with a special salad sauce... For the gentlemen, fine cooked sea king meat, white rice and Ale to go with the meal." Sanji smiled feeling relieved he got to cook today.

"Thanks..." The man forced a smile, but he had a frustrated look on his face.

"Zoro, why don't you listen to me?!" The beautiful woman spoke trying to get Zoro's attention.

"What do you want?" Zoro glared at her, it was obvious he didn't want her there but he mentioned it was an important guest but he was treating her like this.

"I told you already, I am not interested in marrying you..." Zoro spoke with his mouth full, he already finished the food, drank the ale and wiped his mouth. 'Marrying?' The only word Sanji focused on, he felt depressed, he wanted to go back to the kitchen but his feet didn't move.

"Why? Are you interested in someone else? Are you cheating on me?" She whined.

"We aren't even dating in the first place, you're just someone my brother set up." Zoro sighed loudly to show his frustration.

"Who is it then?" The woman demanded proof. Zoro stood up ready to leave, it was clear that the man was pissed off and he didn't have time for this.

"You want proof?" He asked the woman. She looked back at him and nodded.

"I'll be going now." Sanji interrupted, turning around ready to run away from the situation. He grabbed Sanji by his arm and pulled him closer, pressing his lips to his, with his free hand he brushed Sanji's hair out of his face and opened his eyes to look at Sanji. Sanji was staring back with his eyes wide open he wanted to push him away but he couldn't.

"Is that why you asked to meet me here? To show your boyfriend off to me?" The woman shouted and started to cry, she couldn't believe her eyes. She stood up and ran out of the restaurant. Zoro released Sanji and looked behind to make sure she left.

"Sorry about th-" He tried to apologise but he was interrupted by a firm slap on his face.

"You should never make women cry!" Sanji fumed, it was the only thing he was angry about, that and that his first kiss was stolen by a stranger.

"Is that all you're angry about?" Zoro laughed, did that kiss not bother him?

Sanji grabbed the man by the arm and pulled him out of the restaurant. The man didn't resist and just followed him out.

"How dare you steal my first kiss?!" Sanji grabbed onto his collar.

"First kiss? How old are you?" Zoro laughed even louder.

"I'm 21... and yes" He grabbed onto his collar even firmer.

"I'm 21 too and I kissed more people than you." His laugh got louder and louder, he was unable to control his laughter and his stomach felt tight from laughing so much.

"I'm going to kill you." Sanji glared, getting irritated at his annoying laughter.

"I would like to stay and apologise to you for being a virgin but I am extremely busy. I need to go." Zoro stopped laughing and pushed Sanji's hands away from his collar and fixed his own suit.

"Don't co-" Sanji tried to finish the sentence but he couldn't bring himself to tell the man to not come back.

"Bye." He turned around and got into a lux black car.

"Sanji! Sanji!" Usopp ran towards Sanji, he was getting worried.

"What happened?" Usopp asked, fixing Sanji's suit up.

"N-Nothing. Just an annoying customer. The usual." Sanji spoke, his eyes fixed on the black car that was driving away from the restaurant.

"You're blushing!" Usopp laughed.

"I'll kill you too!" Sanji got angry and slapped the back of Usopp's head.

"Let's get back to work!" Sanji ordered walking back to the restaurant.

"Okay, okay. You don't have to worry about customers I sorted everything inside." Usopp smiled.

"Thanks, I'm heading to the kitchen then."

"What the hell happened out there? Usopp told me that you got into an argument with one of the customers. It better not be an important customer, we can't afford to lose any customer especially Roronoa Zoro." Zeff shouted from across the kitchen.

"Roronoa Zoro" Sanji muttered just staring at his face.

"Roronoa Zoro..." Usopp walked into the kitchen with something in his hand.

"What about him?" Zeff asked from the other side of the kitchen.

"He dropped his driver's licence." Sanji grabbed it out of his hand and looked at his picture, it was definitely him. The annoying man he met earlier.

"Just post it to his company, it should be on the receipts under his name." Zeff advised. Sanji quickly went through the receipts, his heart pounded faster with each shuffle, 'Zoro, Zoro... Zoro' he repeated in his head and started to get frustrated when he couldn't find it. He went through them again and then remembered that he didn't pay for his meal.

"It's not here, he didn't pay for his meal." Sanji threw the receipts to one side and took the cigarette out of his mouth, he forgot it was still hanging on his mouth but he already smoked it all out.

"That's okay, he usually does that. His assistant calls the next day and gets the payment sorted." Zeff got back to cooking. Sanji threw the cigarette butt onto the ash tray, stood up and rushed over to the book hanging by the telephone. It had customers informations written just under the time they had made a reservations, he scrolled through the pages and found his name. A smile grew on his face when he saw his name and phone number, but it wasn't his personal number. It was the number for the company he works at. He took another piece of paper and wrote down the company information and placed it into his blazer pocket.

"I'll send this out to him tomorrow morning, it's late to send it now." Sanji replied, looking at the time. It was already six in the afternoon, time just passes by quickly because he loved working at the restaurant so much but lately he was getting exhausted with personal issues. Zeff looked at him and he haven't seen him in that state before, he was exhausted, he tried to hide his dark circles under his eyes but it was clear he wasn't getting enough sleep.

"Sanji, go home now and don't come back for a month." Zeff ordered, finishing up on the orders.

"What do you mean? I still have to work till midnight, I can't leave now." Sanji turned around to look at him, Zeff was staring back at him with concern.

"Hey guys!" Luffy shouted standing by the door with a large grin, he put his bag on the side and put his blazer on.

"What took you so long Luffy! Sanji, hurry up and get out of here before I fire you!" Zeff shouted throwing a spatula at Sanji. Sanji ducked away but he still got hit on the head, he was going to argue back but he knew he did it for his sake and smiled instead.

"Thanks, old man. See you later Luffy, Usopp." Sanji smiled, putting the driver's licence into his trouser pocket. He walked to the locker room, collected his belongings, uniform and walked out.

"See you later, Sanji" Usopp smiled, walking over to collect the dishes.

"See ya Sanji." Luffy smiled, stealing a huge chunk of meat from one of the orders.

"Bye.." Sanji smiled, throwing his bag over his shoulder. He was going to miss this atmosphere.

Sanji walked out of the restaurant and inhaled long and deep, it has been years since he felt calm and stress free. Lately he felt like everything was falling apart, he gotten into a huge mortgage and his job wasn't paying enough, his girlfriend broke up with him for someone else. Just this morning someone walked straight into him and his phone fell into a puddle, he was becoming irritated at the smallest things. He walked into town and found a phone shop to get a replacement. He handed the mobile phone to sales assistant and he started to examine the phone.

"We cannot fix this, the water got into the phone we can try to fix it but it would cost you for them to examine it and if they cannot fix it then there's no point. Plus, this is a very old model we haven't been selling this for years I'm surprised it still works." The sales assistant spoke in a mocking way. Sanji looked at the phone and then at the other mobile phones, he didn't really care about mobile phones. Zeff gave him that mobile phone years ago because he couldn't contact him whenever he wanted to. He looked at the phones again.

"How do you use those phones." Sanji asked pointing at a phone with no keypad. The sales assistant walked over to the mobile phone, gestured him to follow, he put the phone in Sanji's hand and turned it on. Sanji just watched, he didn't really care about technology but it was interesting, the screen was much bigger, it wasn't black and white and it was touchscreen.

"How much is this?" He asked.

"That is a brand new model, it just came out a few weeks ago. It's 1,100,000 Yen, it's a really good phone it's 64GB and you can store as much music, photos and you can even edit videos on this device. Everyone needs a smartphone like this." He smiled, showing some of the phone's features.

"You can pay in installments if you'd like." The sales assistant continued.

"No need." A man spoke from behind, he took his credit card out and handed it to the sales assistant. He took the card and walked over to the till.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sanji asked, turning around to look at the stranger. He was tall, handsome and he had the same aura as that man at the restaurant.

"It's merely a small gesture in return I want you to do a favour for me." He smiled looking straight through Sanji's eyes to his soul, it was kind of creepy Sanji thought to himself trying to look away.

"What do you want me to do?" Sanji asked, he looked the man up and down, he never once saw him before and thought of all the possible things he could want from him. Butler, chef, assistant, hitman... what could it possibly be he thought and then he froze. It couldn't be that one thing! The man looked at him and noticed his face had turned pale and he looked a little scared. He knew what Sanji was thinking at that exact moment.

"Relax, I'm not interested in making you a male escort." He whispered into Sanji's ear. Sanji snapped out of it and took a step back, he felt relieved but still curious as to what he could of wanted.

"Thank you for purchasing, great choice sir." The sales assistant handed the credit card back and handed a small bag with the mobile phone to Sanji.

"I didn't ask you to buy me a mobile phone, I will not accept this." He glared at the stranger.

"Just accept it." He spoke with a firm voice, without thinking he took the bag and paused. His hands moved on their own there was something about this man that he couldn't put a finger on. Sanji followed him out of the store and towards his car that was parked just outside the mobile phone store.

"I'll drop you off home" He smiled, gesturing Sanji to seat himself inside the car. The car itself was luxurious, it was sparkling clean and not a single fingerprint was visible. He was definitely wealthy but what could he possibly want from him? Sanji opened the door and climbed into the vehicle, he was curious but cautioned. The chauffeur rushed to the other side of the vehicle to open the door to his boss. He seated himself and his cologne instantly spread, it was strong, sweet and smelt of something he never smelt before. He knew every ingredient out there except for this one.

"My name is Mihawk." He smiled, holding his hand out for Sanji to shake.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Arrangement

The Arrangement

* * *

Sanji stared with concern at this mysterious man, it was hard to understand what he could possibly want from him. He had nothing to offer to this wealthy businessman. Something about him made Sanji trust him, maybe it was the cologne... it reminded him of a slightly different scent but not exactly similar.

"So what exactly do you want from me?" Sanji asked trying to understand his intention.

Mihawk forced a smile, wondering how he could possibly use his charm to get him to accept the offer he was going to propose.

"Relax... I'm not going to force you to do something." Mihawk looked down and back up at the blond haired man and understood he wasn't going to shake his hand and put it down.

"Then...?" Sanji started to get frustrated, he had a tendency to get irritated as he became impatient.

"Have you heard the company called Santoryu?" he asked curiously.

"I think I saw an ad somewhere, had a picture of a sword or something..." Sanji tried to recall the image he saw on that billboard a few weeks ago.

"It's a sword design company, the owner of that company finds the rarest materials and designs breathtakingly unique swords... and this is where you come in." Mihawk smiled, gesturing the driver to start driving.

"I think you got the wrong person, I can't design anything, I'm a chef." Sanji raised an eyebrow, it didn't make sense where he was going with this.

"I know that. There's a job opening for a personal assistant at the company and I arranged for you to start working there first thing tomorrow. I will have my assistant explain everything to you overnight." Mihawk took his phone out and started texting.

"Personal assistant? I don't-... how? I have no experience in that field." Sanji tried to explain.

"Yes, I got you a month off at that restaurant so you can trial at this job. It's not an easy job, the boss is kind of stuck up." Mihawk let out a soft chuckle.

"What if I say no?" Sanji asked trying to learn his options.

"Oh, I don't think you have a chance." Mihawk passed a check and Sanji looked at it and looked closer, he hadn't seen this much money together. It was more than enough to pay his 30-year mortgage off and enough left over for a new closet and a round trip to Europe. Everything he wanted to do but couldn't.

"So... all you want me to do is become a personal assistant to this boss guy just for a month? What's the catch?" He was starting to feel cautious, it sounded too good to be true.

"The catch... you have to make him fall in love with you to the point where he would do anything for you. At the end of three months, you have to get him to propose to you and earn the right to his company which you will sell to me." Mihawk explained the deal.

"Wait, what?... I'm not into men, you got this wrong!" Sanji exclaimed, his heart pounded faster. What kind of situation was he about to get into.

"Quite hard to believe that, after... anyway, have the trial and after a month tell me what you think. Once you hand me the shares to the company you will earn 3 million in American Dollars. Does that sound good enough?" Mihawk smiled hoping he would accept.

"What did this guy do to you?" Sanji raised his eyebrow trying to understand the motive for Mihawk to ask of such a thing.

"He stole my business from me, I was the one who taught him everything." He sighed, trying to keep calm. The car stopped and a beautiful woman stepped inside and shut the door. She had long orange hair and big brown eyes, she was the most beautiful woman he had seen.

"Hello Sanji, I will be your assistant for the next few months. My name is Nami." She smiled, holding her hand to greet him. Sanji grabbed her hand and kissed the back of her hand.

"Nice to meet you, it will be a pleasure to work with a beautiful woman like you." Sanji grinned stupidly.

"So you accept the offer?" Mihawk asked surprised at how quick he changed his mind.

"Yes, yes, whatever. He deserves it. So you said I would work overnight with the beautiful Nami?" Sanji asked thinking about a number of times he would be alone with her, the thoughts ranged with romantic to perverted.

"I'm glad you accepted the offer, Nami here will explain the details to you later..." the car stopped moving and Sanji looked outside, he was outside his apartment, he was starting to freak out. This man knows his name, address, place of work and exact location, he was starting to get concerned.

"See you soon, oh and don't bother trying to escape. You're easy to find." Mihawk raised his hand expecting Sanji to shake his hand this time. Sanji shook his hand and forced a smile. The driver ran out and opened the door for Sanji and Nami to leave, Sanji pocketed the cheque and stepped out.

* * *

Sanji watched Mihawk drive off until the car disappeared from sight, it was all too much to take in. It was like a dream he couldn't wake up from, why did this guy choose him out of everyone, what did he have that no-one else had. He sighed loudly and unlocked the front door and stepped inside, holding the door for Nami to enter.

"So what is the deal with him and the stuck-up boss of that company?" Sanji asked before Nami had the chance to enter.

"It's a long story I presume, but if Mihawk wants to explain then he will explain to you later on." She smiled, walking towards the living room. Sanji shut the door and followed her into the living room, he walked over to the kitchen and switched the kettle on. Nami put the briefcase on the coffee table and unlocked the briefcase.

"Would you like coffee or tea?" Sanji asked, preparing the mugs.

"Coffee is fine" Nami smiled, texting at the speed of light.

"Sugar?"

"Nope, no milk either" Nami replied, then stood up and left the room without Sanji noticing.

Sanji finished preparing the drinks and turned around and noticed she had left the room. He left the drinks on the coffee table and noticed the papers she left on top of the briefcase. It was titled 'Plan Persona' with detailed paragraphs and objectives and before he had a chance to read it Nami snatched the papers out of his hand.

"Didn't anyone teach you not to go through others belongings?!" She seemed agitated, not realising she had raised her voice. She went through the papers hoping none of them was missing.

"What is this 'plan persona?'" He asked with his arms crossed.

"Jeez, you're too impatient. Looks like you'll both get along." Nami sighed, seated herself and grabbed the coffee from the coffee table.

"Both? Can you tell me already what am I supposed to do?" Sanji raised his voice.

"Mihawk had already explained to you the details of your job. What he expects you to do is to make him fall in love with you..."

"How do you know he isn't attracted to women?" Sanji interrupted.

"...because Mihawk tried to set me up before you and it was then when I understood that he was interested in men. He never showed any interest and I'm a natural charmer." She let her tongue out and winked, speaking highly of herself.

"That's true, but then again how do you know?"

"I went through his things and found his diary in which he wrote about the time he spent abroad. He dated a boy that looks a bit like you, but he caused him heartbreak so he never dated anyone else." She explained, going through the papers.

"How do you know he caused heartbreak?"

"Because... he stopped writing in the diary." Her phone started ringing and she stood up and walked towards the front door and opened it to a group of five people.

"W-What is happening? Who are these people?" Sanji asked standing up and getting ready to defend himself.

"Your hairdresser, stylist, tutor, beautician and nail technican" She smiled and they all gestured hi and put down their equipment.

"Your lesson starts now." Nami smiled.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Meeting

Sanji stared in awe at the breathtaking architecture of the tall skyscrapers that decorated the skyline. The buildings were uniquely designed and one particular building stood out more than the rest. It was the tallest building, painted in black and the windows were tinted black. He walked towards the building to read the panel attached to the entrance. Just then his phone went off and he stopped walking and started feeling his pockets for the phone. It took Sanji a while to realise the phone was in his hand the entire time and felt relieved.

"Hello, Nami?" Sanji answered wondering if there was a problem.

"Listen, this is really important. I forgot to tell you-" Just then he felt something crash into his shoulder and he lost his balance, dropping the phone onto the floor. "No, no, no" Sanji muttered to himself as he immediately picked up the phone and checked for damages, he had just gotten the phone. He felt frustrated and annoyed when he noticed the screen was cracked.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Sanji shouted diverting his frustrated to the green haired man that crashed into him. He didn't even bother to stop and apologise for crashing into him. 'Nami!' for a second he forgot she was on the phone and held the phone to his ear and pressed the home button continuously waiting for the call screen to pop up but she had hung up. He went to recents and called her back but she didn't pick up. He sighed and texted her.

'What were you going to say that was important? Some idiot crashed into me' he hit send and walked towards the building painted in black. The panel beside the entrance read 'Santoryuu' and he sighed in relief.

Security stopped him at the entrance.

"What is your reason for visiting?" He asked blocking his path.

"Erm... I'm here for the personal assistant job for Santoryuu. I'm Sanji Vinsmoke" He felt overwhelmed with the interaction. The security guard stepped back and gestured him to move on. Sanji faked a smile and walked towards the lift and looked at the floor he was supposed to be in. Just then the lift was flooded with people running inside with large objects, stacks of folders and all looked as though they were late for something. He wanted to ask for help but he was hesitant, they all looked like they were going to snap any minute due to the stress. He looked over at one of the folders the woman beside him was holding, it read 'meeting 8 pm at Santoryuu'. The lift stopped and half of the people in the lift exited and the other half remained. The lift went up one floor and the woman exited and started running somewhere, Sanji paced behind her and followed her into the entrance of the Santoryuu headquarters. The floor was painted a dark green and decorated with black furniture. A beautiful woman stood in front of the reception desk, she had pale skin, blue eyes and long black hair, she looked as though she was Russian but she wasn't the receptionist.

"Good morning, do you have a map?... because I'm getting lost in your eyes." Sanji flirted, placing a gentle kiss on the back of her hand.

"Oh, how creative. I haven't seen you here before, are you here for the interview or?" She asked, ignoring his cheesy pick-up line.

"I'm actually here for Roronoa Zoro... I'm his next personal assistant." Sanji replied, a little dishearted that she ignored his flirting.

"Good luck, he can be a bit of a pain." She whispered.

"How so?" He asked curiously.

"Nevermind that, grab a coffee and run to that room over there." She pointed at the room in the middle of the open space, it had two large tinted black doors and he felt a shiver go down his spine.

"Coffee? Where do I get that?!" Sanji nervously started looking around for a coffee machine. The woman leaned over the reception desk and grabbed the takeaway cup from the desk and handed it to Sanji.

"I'm just messing with you, here's his drink, the receptionist grabbed it this morning. Now straighten up and go!" She smiled and directed him to the room. Sanji smiled back and ran towards the room. He saw his reflection on the door and fixed his hair before knocking on the door.

"Come in!" A deep voice yelled, followed by chatter. Sanji took a deep breath and entered the room.

"Mr Roronoa, we know how important this season is for you but please take into consideration the trends for this year. The product won't sell if you use designs that were from three years ago." One of the men started explaining his concerns. He took out a portfolio and placed it on the desk but it was no use his back was turned towards them.

"I don't care." He commented back, throwing a small basketball toy into the air and catching it in mid-air and repeating. The voice was somehow similar to a voice he had heard before but he couldn't differentiate where he heard it before.

"If you have a look at the portfolio we have a few inspirational ideas that you can implement the designs that would definitely sell-"

"Are you trying to tell me that my designs are crap?" Roronoa asked threateningly.

"No, not at all Mr Roronoa. I just wanted to say that if we keep up with the trend... the rival company is selling more than Santoryuu because they-"

"How long have you worked at this company?" He asked, squeezing the ball in his hand.

"A-About 10 years..." He answered his voice breaking.

"Did you not learn anything? I am disappointed. The Santoryuu brand is a timeless brand meaning we do not keep up with trends, we are unique and niche. The swords are designed to be the best of the best. What you are trying to imply is that we need to devalue the brand?" He sounded annoyed but tried to remain calm.

"I-I didn't... Mr Roronoa I was just trying to sa-"

"You're fired, I don't want to see you again. Everyone get out now!" He shouted and all three of them packed up instantly and hurried out of the room as quickly as they could. Sanji stood still, he didn't know what to do next. He sounded pissed off and he didn't want to do anything wrong that could get him fired within the first 20 minutes.

"What do you want?" He asked, throwing the ball and catching it in mid-air.

"I-I came here for... I'm your new personal assistant." Sanji stuttered, his heart skipped a beat and his hands started shaking. He rushed towards the table and put the coffee down before it spilt everywhere. He noticed the colour of his hair as he got closer. It was the same shade of green he had seen before.

"What's your name?" Roronoa asked, turning around to grab the coffee on the desk and didn't notice that Sanji's hand was still on the cup. They both froze and stared into each other's blank faces and their eyes widened with the overwhelming memories.

 _They both remembered the night at the restaurant... and the kiss that followed._


	4. Chapter 4 - The Cyan Connection

There was an awkward pause as they both stared intensely into each other's eyes, the blue and green colours mixed together in each other's reflections. Sanji looked down at Zoro's lips and back into his eyes and noticed Zoro was staring at his lips. Sanji felt his pulse increase, his mind felt blank but there was one thing he was certain about and that was the urge to kiss him. Zoro noticed Sanji's cheeks had turned red and he leaned closer towards his face...

"Who hired you?" Zoro asked curiously, he had no idea about hiring another personal assistant after the recent one.

Sanji pulled away feeling agitated and tried to collect his thoughts, he didn't know what to say. He felt stupid for putting himself into this position, why did he let this stranger make him feel like this? Again?

"There was a job advertisement, I got interviewed by HR. Naturally, they hire the best." Sanji felt his cheeks still hot and avoided eye contact, he looked anywhere but at him.

"I see, must have been Robin. She needs to ask me next time, I did not ask for another assistant especially after the last one." He took a sip of his coffee and looked at his calendar.

"She did say you would say that." Sanji let out a soft chuckle, trying to do something about the tense atmosphere.

"Anyway... I need to leave now and you are coming with me." Zoro chugged the coffee down and grabbed a few documents and books from the table, stuffed them into a briefcase and walked towards the exit. Sanji rushed behind trying to keep up.

"Where are we going?" Sanji asked taking out his calendar given by Nami about Zoro's schedule.

"This calendar says you have another meeting in about 20 minutes." Sanji looked again at the calendar confirming it was the same date.

"Cancel that. I can't deal with another meeting." Zoro sighed. Sanji started to panic he didn't know who to call or what to do next. He looked through the pages and luckily Nami had highlighted and wrote down notes on how to cancel meetings. Sanji dialled the number and waited for the receptionist to pick up.

"Um... Hello, I-I'm just calling to cancel the meeting... Yes... the 9 am appointment with Roronoa Zoro. Okay, thank you. I will call again to reschedule... I'm sorry about the inconvenience." Sanji apologised, he let out a sigh of relief and followed Zoro into the car.

"So did you cancel?" Zoro asked wondering if he managed the simple task.

"Yes, but they were very angry. I didn't know what to say." Sanji puffed.

"I'm thinking about ending my relations with them, they are nothing but leeches." Zoro took his phone out and looked at the notifications and his phone started to ring.

"Yeah? What do you want?" Zoro let out a loud sigh.

"What the hell is your problem? How many times do I have to tell you not to cancel with these men? I'm not even going to ask about that date. Do you know what kind of position you put me in?" The man started yelling at the other end of the phone, he was extremely angry. It was loud enough that Sanji was able to hear every single word.

"They are a waste of my time, they do nothing for the company. Plus it's my company why are you telling me what to do? Also, stop setting me up with these bimbos I'm not interested. That was the last time." Zoro shut his eyes and threw his head back.

"Where are we heading?" The chauffeur asked hesitantly.

Zoro muted the call. "Department 24" and unmuted the call. "Listen, stop interfering with my decisions brother. I'm starting to get irritated." Zoro argued, the vein on his forehead was visible. He sighed several times and ended the call and turned his attention towards Sanji.

"Next time when you speak to my business partners, speak with more confidence and do not give them an excuse or a reason as to why I cancel or have to rebook these appointments. I am known for my spontaneous decisions." Zoro advised with a serious tone, he disliked excuses as they were another form of lies. Sanji was confused as to how Zoro was able to switch from being relaxed to serious, he felt like he was walking on eggshells and he picked up the notebook to shuffle through the pages to see if Nami had written any other notes. Then he remembered the phone call he had this morning with Nami, it seemed important. He took his phone out from his pocket and scrolled through the notifications there was ten missed calls and seven text messages.

 _8:04 Call me back!_

 _8:05 It's urgent!_

 _8:05 Why aren't you picking up the phone!_

 _8:06 What part of it's urgent don't you understand?!_

 _8:07 Pick up_

 _8:09 Pick up Sanji!_

 _8:10 Call me when you're alone and you see this_

He was curious he wanted to know what it was that was so urgent but he couldn't call back either as Zoro was beside him.

"Is it important?" Zoro asked noticing his odd behaviour.

"N-Not really. It's just family stuff. I'm putting my phone on do not disturb mode." Sanji forced a smile and put the phone back into his pocket.

"Okay good, because you need to have all your attention on me." He spoke softly followed by his charismatic smile.

"What happened between your previous assistant and you?" Sanji asked curiously, he remembered Zoro had mentioned he didn't want another assistant especially after the last one.

"I don't want to speak about it really but..." He looked out of the window and stroked his chin wondering if he should tell him.

"She was sent by my brother but she had an ulterior motive and that was to marry a rich attractive businessman. I guess I'm not attracted to redheads... I find blonds are more fun..." He smirked and turned away to pick up a document from his briefcase. Sanji felt flustered and he started to pick at his nails, he didn't know what to say or how to act. All he thought about was whether his boss was hitting on him or not?


End file.
